So we are a little behind on blog posts following a couple of visits and a 2 1/2 week holiday. Don’t feel too sorry for us.

The atmosphere – lovely. Went in on a busy Saturday night and got one of the last tables.

The service – efficient. Very smooth service and a nice quick simple dinner.

The food – tasty. Our favourites of a pad Thai and a Red chicken curry were delicious.

Value for money – around £20 was good value for the quality and quantity!

This is the closest property to our flat at 100 steps to the sofa. Definitely would like to be back before the year is out. Let’s see how it goes.

This is honesty one pub Jo never thought she would go in. The picture does not capture how mad this place can be on an Arsenal match day or it’s location on corner of a busy road. We chose a more sedate Monday night. Which just happened to be Chelsea vs West Ham.

The atmosphere – we got the last free table at 7:45 when we arrived. Mostly men. Though not all there to watch football. Quite a high turnover with people coming for a couple of drinks.

The service – efficient. Can tell they are set up for busy match days. Professional bar staff!

The food – Jo was pleasantly surprised by a very tasty chilli. Good level of veg, meat and spice. Jon’s burger was below par but perfectly edible.

Value for money – £35 for two mains and two drinks was alright. Not Weatherspoons prices but a good range of food and beer.

Good night out – shame West Ham were not quite as good as Hazard.

2 for 1 on burgers meant Lyons went to the Lion! The White Lion is an ex Weatherspoons where railway maintenance workers used to drink in the morning!

The atmosphere – Fantastic decorations on the wall as loads of lion pictures! It was busy for a Tuesday with most of the tables taken for drinks and groups eating.

The service – Ordered from the bar. The only awkward part was having to be able to describe where our table was as no longer any table numbers.

The food – We ordered a ‘normal’ burger and a haddock burger both with the obligatory portion of chips. Both burgers were excellent and of a good size. The chips were average.

Value for money – Change from £20 for 2 burgers and 2 drinks seemed like a good deal.

Great Lions, brilliant burgers, shame no plates….

We grabbed a Pret sandwich and got on the train. Thats all there is to say.

Feels like a long time since our last outing on Stroud Green Road (and that wasn’t to the best of establishments!). This restaurant has been the most different things over the years. Always along the same theme (slow cooked meat) but various different incarnations – “Rub” and “slow” to mention two.

The atmosphere – I do worry about this place as there never seems to be anyone in there. We were the only ones in there though a number of people came in for take away. Nice atmosphere though didn’t feel too quiet.

The service – friendly service. Complicated menu and didn’t seem to be up for providing advice on how much to order. This picture is only half the menu!

The food – let’s start with the drinks. The peach margarita was delicious. Strong but very tasty. (Not sure why there are glasses of sand and rosemary…)

The food was super tasty. The jerk chicken and pork had been fully marinated and tasty all the way through. Not dumped in to much sauce. So you could taste all the flavours. The roti had a delicious traditional chickpea mix in as well. However, the star of the show was the fried plantain. These were perfect.

Value for money – £30 for a ton of food and a drink each was reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food.

Great way to start a long weekend. Feel like I am on holiday already.

Of the 62 restaurants on Stroud Green 5Star was one of the most eagerly anticipated…. and what better time to go than a late Thursday evening!

The Service – very friendly and efficient. Did look at us oddly for taking pictures of the food…

The food – we ordered the 5Star pizza special and a chicken burger with more chips than is normal! The pizza had lots of miscellaneous meats and strangely lots of fresh chillis. (This was a surprise as Jon didn’t even look at what was on the special!) Although very salty and spicy it was tasty. The chicken was nice when hot, but did look a little grey. To drink was a can of 7up from Germany

The atmosphere – the only other diners missed two buses while ordering. The decoration in 5Star consists of giant posters of it’s own menu and a very ornate mirror….. which the other couple took their picture in!

Value for money – £9 for a chicken burger meal deal and a pizza that was big enough for breakfast as well!

Overall a friendly chicken shop which was cheap, clean and definitely not pretentious.

Not sure if we will ever be back…

Cheeky Monday night Thai meal out. As Jon was baking for cake sale decided to leave the kitchen free for that. Plus any excuse after a busy start to the week!

The atmosphere – great but random! Decorations are eclectic from The Queen and Prince Philip above the fireplace. To the collection of notes displayed in the table. Fairly busy for a Monday night.

The service – friendly. Apparently the notes are donated from returning holiday goers. Food arrived very quickly after ordering. Faster than the bill did later!

The food – the Penang curry was delicious. Lots of chicken and veg in the curry and a rich coconut sauce. The Pad Thai was rather plain and couldn’t complete with the curry. The Jasmine tea was tasty and beautiful presented.

Value for money – excellent £25 for main meals and a drink each.

What better way to spend your lunch hour whilst working from home day than to go to Angel’s Cafe!

The food – We ordered the chalk board special – spaghetti bolognese and a chicken shish kebab with a tea and a chocolate milkshake on the side. The bolognese was retro English Cafe bolognese (just like all food will be post brexit 😞). The Chicken shish on the over hand was very tasty and lots of it! The milkshake was not very thick but the positive was that it was not too sweet.

The service – Not what you call fast food, took an hour to order and eat food.

The atmosphere -A family business with everyone from children to old folks to people working from home made to feel welcome.

Value for money – £15 for two meals and drinks including a chocolate milkshake felt like very good value for money.

Slow service and not the most interesting of flavours mean that a return trip for lunch is not likely. The Turkish breakfast may tempt a return however!

A second Saturday afternoon cake with Jon’s mum at the Crisis cafe on Stroud Green Road. (The first was in the Olympic Park at Timber Lodge with friends.)

The service – welcoming. For some reason there was just a glass of water on our table. And the waitress found some flowers to go in it. Don’t know what happened to the previous flowers….

The food – strong coffee was a winner for Jon. Good selection of teas. Jon liked the texture of the Custard Tart but the flavour was only passable. In contrast the Blueberry muffin was delicious.

The atmosphere – you are at the entrance to the shop. But it doesn’t feel like that. Lots of people coming and going but no pressure to move on.

Value for money – on the cheaper end £10 for two coffees, a tea and two cakes. Plus it’s going to charity.

Best coffee shop so far. Would recommend as a place to meet and chill.

A valentines special. Take out from May Mei Wok. (Yep forgot to take picture of outside so have stollen this from google maps).

The service – brisk. No acknowledgement of us on arrival or any small talk.

The Atmosphere – couple of people eating in but we decided to take out and eat at home.

The food – started well with the best elements of the meal prawn toast, seaweed and chicken satay. Unfortunately everything else was all very normal Chinese take out – greasy, stodgy and tasteless.

Value for money – £20 for the lot… think we would have been better of with the M&S Valentine’s Day diner in!